Daily Times

The opposition in Punjab Assembly criticised the COVID-19 handling of the government while demanding safety kits for the medics of the province.

The lawmakers from the opposition benches came down hard on the government for not providing facilities to the patients in the quarantine centers as there are reports that corona patients protested in several quarantine centers over lack of facilities. According to the details, the session of Punjab Assembly started after a delay of more than one and half hour from its scheduled time of 2 PM with Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the chair on Friday. The session was convened over the requisition of the opposition and only 100 MPAs out of 371 were allowed to attend the proceeding to ensure the protocol of social distancing. The ratio of 52 and 48 was agreed between the government and opposition regarding the attendance of the MPAs. The prominent among them who attended the session included PML-N’s Rana Iqbal, Samiullah Khan, Malik Nadeem Kamran, Rana Mashhood, Azma Bukhari, Khalil Tahir Sandhu and Makhdoom Usman from the opposition benches. From government, health minister Dr Yasim Rashid, law minister Raja Basharat, minister for housing Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed and minister for public prosecution Ch Zaheer ud Din were present.

Speaking on the floor, PML-N’s MPA Azma Bukhari said that the Corona positive cases are surfacing in doctors, paramedics and nurses rapidly. “The frontline soldiers were demanding safety kits and they even protested for it but the police was seen beating them outside the office of health department,” said MPA Azma Bukhari. She further added that the WHO is warning repeatedly not to ease the lockdown but the government is planning to completely abolish it that will be very dangerous. The health department was given 11 billion rupees in one day to deal with Corona and we must be told where this amount was spent, she said. She asked to provide the details of 11 billion rupees that were issued to health department for COVID-19. She also criticized the NAB for victimizing the political opponents as she said that her assembly bank account was also checked.

Former health minister Kh Salman Rafique also demanded safety kits for the health workers. He was of the view that people in the quarantine centers are protesting for not getting proper facilities there while the overseas Pakistanis are also not being treated well when they land here. Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said that the provincial government is doing every possible act to facilitate the maximum people. She was of the view that the number of tests have been increased in the province and the patients in quarantine centers are also being kept in good conditions.

Seven ordinances including The Punjab Infectious Diseases (Prevention and Control) Ordinance 2020, The Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, The Punjab Prevention of Hoarding Ordinance 2020 and some others were also laid in the House by law minister Raja Basharat. The session was later adjourned to meet again on Monday at 11.30 am.

Earlier, it was decided in the business advisory meeting that guests will not be allowed in the Punjab Assembly while MPAs have also been directed not to bring staff with them during the session. The business advisory meeting was attended by Speaker Pervaiz Elahi, Law Minister Raja Basharat, Ch Zaheer, Samiullah Khan and Malik Nadeem Kamran.